The FTSE 100 added 15.56 points, or 0.2 percent, to
6,694.17 at the close in London, posting its longest winning
streak since October. The equity benchmark has gained 14 percent
this year as central banks around the world pledged to leave
interest rates low for a prolonged period of time. The broader
FTSE All-Share Index advanced 0.2 percent today, while Ireland’s
ISEQ Index lost 0.2 percent.

“We have a green Christmas on stock markets today,” said
Benno Galliker, a trader at Luzerner Kantonalbank AG in Lucerne,
Switzerland. “The positive sentiment lingers on and pulls the
markets that are open in Europe today higher. We should see a
continuation of the up move into 2014.”

The volume of shares changing hands in FTSE 100 (UKX) companies
was 59 percent lower than the average in the last 30 days,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

U.S. Economy

A report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington will show that orders
for durable goods in the U.S. rose 2 percent in November,
according to a Bloomberg poll of economists. Separate data at 10
a.m. will show that new-house sales fell to a 440,000 annualized
pace last month from 444,000 in October, according to the median
projection.

BSkyB (BSY) climbed 2.5 percent to 833 pence. The Daily Mail
reported there was speculation Vodafone Group Plc may bid for
the company to bundle its mobile-phone services with the
satellite broadcaster’s broadband, TV and landline offerings.

Tullow Oil declined 1.2 percent to 838 pence. The company
said a well on the Mantra prospect off the coast of Norway found
reservoirs that contained water instead of oil. Tullow said it
will plug and abandon the well.

Segro added 0.9 percent to 337.7 pence. The U.K.’s largest
publicly traded owner of industrial properties said it sold its
Neckermann site for 46 million euros ($63 million).